Airs Sunday, September 4, 2011 at 9 p.m. on KPBSTV

Kevin Whately returns as Inspector Lewis teamed with his cool, cerebral partner Detective Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox). Lewis, the former working-class foil to the erudite Detective Inspector Morse, tackles murder and mayhem with the help of Hathaway.

"Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things" - In this episode, luminary graduates from Oxford's last surviving all-female college are on campus to honor beloved professor Diana Ellerby (Juliet Stevenson, "Place of Execution"). There is the confident lingerie CEO, the provocative newspaper columnist — and then there's the passive aggressive Poppy Toynton.

Poppy never quite blossomed intellectually like her peers. When Poppy is found dead on the stairs, her seething rage against her fellow graduates exposed, Lewis and Hathaway step into the esteemed circle of women to investigate.

But Lewis is haunted by memories of 15-year-old Chloe Brooks, attacked at the college ten years earlier. Lewis's work on that case interrupted by the death of his wife, now his deepening obsession with it threatens to derail the Toynton investigation.

Is it unresolved grief or detective's intuition? Lewis and Hathaway get a dizzying education in the scandals and secrets of Lady Matilda's College, as well as a lesson or two in feminism, as they untangle a new case and bring a far off one back into terrifying focus.

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Preview: Inspector Lewis, Series IV: Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things

Above: In "Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things," a reunion at Oxford’s remaining all-female college ends with the murder of a prominent student, which may be connected to a similar, decade-old case. Lewis and Hathaway must delve into the mystery of the college and its secrets to find the culprit. Juliet Stevenson (MASTERPIECE CONTEMPORARY “Place of Execution”) co-stars.